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capt mike

Sealing With Superglue

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That never entered my mind. I guess you would have to wipe your finger off immediately before it sticks to your other finger or the lure. Sounds tricky. What about latex gloves? Would the acetone eat through it?

I can see myself going to work with an 11" swimbait stuck to my hand. Hopefully it'll fall off on its own.

I guess i'll give it a try. You've always been a straight shooter in your posts. Thanks.

I've only just started building some balsa baits, but I apply the super glue directly to the lure and spread it on with my finger. Do it quickly and then just wipe it off your finger with a rag or cloth with a little acetone on it.

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That never entered my mind. I guess you would have to wipe your finger off immediately before it sticks to your other finger or the lure. Sounds tricky. What about latex gloves? Would the acetone eat through it?

I can see myself going to work with an 11" swimbait stuck to my hand. Hopefully it'll fall off on its own.

I guess i'll give it a try. You've always been a straight shooter in your posts. Thanks.

You might want to use a latex glove if your doing an 11" swimbait. The baits I've done by spreading the super glue with my finger have only been bass baits in the 2" to 3" range. I doubt if you could do a bait the size your talking about fast enough to keep the glue from sticking your fingers together or even to the bait. I didn't realize how big of a lure you were talking about. Sure hope your not wearing a swimbait as jewelry this morning. :oooh:

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You might want to use a latex glove if your doing an 11" swimbait. The baits I've done by spreading the super glue with my finger have only been bass baits in the 2" to 3" range. I doubt if you could do a bait the size your talking about fast enough to keep the glue from sticking your fingers together or even to the bait. I didn't realize how big of a lure you were talking about. Sure hope your not wearing a swimbait as jewelry this morning. :oooh:

I already sealed one by squeezing the glue on the bait and rubbing it around with the nozzle of the bottle. Not perfectly smooth, but covered. I have another bait ready to seal. I'll get my acetone rag, shopping bags and gloves ready this time. I guess I could seal it one section at a time. Any preference on brand of glue? The stuff I used is from Michael's craft store. Seems OK.

Thanks for all the input everyone.

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I have been using Gorilla super glue. Mostly because that is what I had on hand at the time. It is working great. I put 2-5 coats on with a paper towel and sand with 400 grit sand paper between each coat. After the last coat I finish with 2500 grit paper. The end result is totally smooth surface to paint on.

I did skip one step. I take wood putty and put it over the entire bait. Sand it down till I can see the wood again. I do this to fill any voids the sanding process creates. Then seal it with super glue. The result of the glue and the wood putty makes a rock hard surface.

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I buy CA (superglue) in 2oz bottles and just take the lure outside and pour it over the bait letting the excess slide off the lure. It's a wasteful but I don't make a lot of lures and it thoroughly coats the bait. I do this twice sanding between coats, sand once more then apply a coat of thinned D2T before painting. I think CA does a good job of making the grain stand up so it can be sanded smooth but then it's all I have ever used so what do I know.

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I had a go with the CA glue yesterday and really liked it. I used a 6" square of food wrap plastic, wrapped around my finger. It worked very well.

Dave

I used a papertowel to wipe the glue in and it worked. Then I picked up the papertowel again and touched the wet glue and glued the tip of my finger to the towel. It started getting hot on my finger and felt like it was on fire. I pulled it off along with a few layers of skin. I did'nt know super glue got hot like that. I won't make that mistake again. I knew this would happen.

Why do you call the glue CA glue? What is that?

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I used a papertowel to wipe the glue in and it worked. Then I picked up the papertowel again and touched the wet glue and glued the tip of my finger to the towel. It started getting hot on my finger and felt like it was on fire. I pulled it off along with a few layers of skin. I did'nt know super glue got hot like that. I won't make that mistake again. I knew this would happen.

Why do you call the glue CA glue? What is that?

Super glue, as it is commonly known in UK, is CyanoAcrylate, so we call it CA for short.

I noticed that it got hot too, when I did the test. I ignored it at the time, but now you mention it. I hate getting this stuff on my fingers, which is why I have never tried it a a seal coat before. You have to treat this stuff with respect (as you have found out), also, when coating large areas, you are releasing a lot of fumes into the air. I seem to remember that the fumes are very toxic, so good ventilation is in order.

Dave

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The fume problem is one of the reasons I like to go outside to use CA. It is especially bad the first coat on raw balsa, after that is a little less offensive. I haven't read up on it but the fumes can't be good for you.

10-4 on all of that. How long do you wait to prime the lure after sealing it with a couple coats of CA?

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10-4 on all of that. How long do you wait to prime the lure after sealing it with a couple coats of CA?

I put two coats on, one after the other, using just the tip of the tube as an applicator.

When it's set, in about 5 minutes usually, I hit it with my hair dryer to be sure all the solvent is gone, wet sand with 400 grit, and start painting. I don't prime, but start immediately with the airbrush paints.

I carry super/crazy glue in the brush-on bottle on my boat, for on the water repairs.

It is great to help close cuts and hook punctures that won't stop bleeding, too. Just try not to contaminate the glue brush with blood, or the whole bottle will set up and be wasted.

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I put two coats on, one after the other, using just the tip of the tube as an applicator.

When it's set, in about 5 minutes usually, I hit it with my hair dryer to be sure all the solvent is gone, wet sand with 400 grit, and start painting. I don't prime, but start immediately with the airbrush paints.

I carry super/crazy glue in the brush-on bottle on my boat, for on the water repairs.

It is great to help close cuts and hook punctures that won't stop bleeding, too. Just try not to contaminate the glue brush with blood, or the whole bottle will set up and be wasted.

how do you keep a smooth surface that way? I tried that and made an uneven surface.

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how do you keep a smooth surface that way? I tried that and made an uneven surface.

I agree, the finish is not absolutely smooth. I used the food wrap with a few quick sweeps to spread the CA. I then coated with D2T (no sanding) and all the blemishes of the CA application were gone. A light scuffing is probably a good idea, but delamination was not a concern for my application. The thick epoxy coat covers a multitude of sins.

Dave

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I applied the super glue as stated before. Spread as evenly as possible with my finger. After the first coat was cured I sanded it smooth and applied a second coat. Again by spreading it with my finger. The second coat still wasn't perfectly smooth so I gave it a light sanding and it was good to go. The super glue is the quickest way I've found to seal a lure and doing it this way saved me all the trouble of mixing epoxy, putting the bait on a lure turner and then waiting for it to cure. This method may not be the way you are comfortable doing it. That's why everyone has their own way of doing things. If there was only one right way to do things then we would all be building lures the same way. But that's just my :twocents:

Ben

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how do you keep a smooth surface that way? I tried that and made an uneven surface.

I won't speak for Mark but it sounds like your glue is either applied unevenly or, more likely, is setting up before it spreads evenly. As I said in an earlier post, I just pour mine over the bait pretty freely while turning the bait and though I may lose some I get a nice even coat. Also, some superglue or CA is thinner than others. I bought some recently at wallyworld when I ran out of the 2z bottles and it was too thick to work as a sealer and lumped. You can sand the lumps down but it is easy to get down into the balsa doing that. I will occasionally put on a coat of epoxy before painting but not usually.

As Mark stated, I usually don't do anything before painting than apply a couple of coats of glus, sanding each time til the bait is smooth then painting. Be advised that I am no expert on any of this but I have been using the superglue since I started and find it to be the best for me.

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I sand the blank smooth first, then drip on the crazy glue, usually Zap brand.

It's pretty easy to put on small amounts, and watch them run down and soak in. I usually put the tip of the glue bottle right onto the blank, and use the blank to control how much glue comes out.

If it's not smooth when I'm done, I wet sand it. After I add paint and top coat, it's smooth anyway.

I don't prime my balsa baits once I've sealed them with crazy glue. And my paint bonds just fine.

I just made a PVC lure that I wanted to fish the next day. I got it ready to paint, wet sanded it, and painted it without primer. The surface looked slightly pitted after the paint, but it's totally smooth after three dips in my urethane top coat.

I made the lure Friday, and fished it yesterday, and it worked just fine. No issues with the paint, or the top coat.

Of course, it's a two piece floater with a bill that runs down to 3', at the most, so I didn't hit any rocks with it. I did drop in on my driveway (by accident) when I was putting it in my boat, and there was not damage.

Try a test and see if you find that to be true for your baits, too.

It cut out a day in my lure making process, because I used to use rattle can primer that needed to dry/offgas overnight.

My Createx paint bonded very well to the PVC. I think heat setting it softened the PVC a little and helped it bond.

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